Ipod skipping songs after a few seconds

I have been having problems with playing certain songs on my new 80GB ipod classic (all ripped from CDs, not purchased or downloaded).

The songs will skip to the next song after anything from right at the beginning of the song to 30 seconds in. If I go back, I can fast forward past the point it skips, and it will play to the end.

I have already tried deleting the songs from my library and re-importing, restoring my ipod with the latest software and checking that the stop time on the song is correct. Does anyone have any other suggestions for me?

Thanks

ipod classic 80GB, Windows Vista

Posted on Jan 15, 2008 2:57 AM

Reply
9 replies

Jan 15, 2008 10:33 AM in response to kirstyam

I have a similar issue, the only difference being that when I fast forward it will not continue to play, only again, skip to the next song.

After some research I have found that the only thing that seems to work for me is to convert my files to MP3 using the "convert to MP3" function found in iTunes. All my songs are already in MP3, but the reason this works is due to the encoding. If the encoding is unknown, it seems more often than not my iPod will skip those tracks. When you convert it to mp3 using iTunes it changes the encoding to some kind of iTunes encoding.

This makes me VERY angry. There is no way I have found to sort the items by their encoding as to convert only the problematic ones. Also, when you convert it changes the bit rate to read what ever your rip settigs are. This ***** because I plan on reripping some of my CDs that I ripped years ago at a low bit rate. If I convert to MP3 I cannot search my library to see which ones were ripped at the lower rate.

It also creates a duplicate of the audio file, which means I will not have enough space on my hard drive to compensate for over 12000 duplicated at a higher or equivilant bit rate.

Jan 16, 2008 2:34 AM in response to kirstyam

I have tried converting one of the problematic albums to MP3 (despite it already being in MP3 format) and this seems to have worked.

However, it was a very time consuming process, and like Iceman says, there is no way to identify which tracks are causing problems.

I guess I am going to have to just go through and reconvert all of the albums that are skipping, seeing as how there doesn't appear that Apple can do anything to help. I'm really pleased I upgraded my iPod now!

Thanks for your help, and good luck sorting out your library.

Jan 16, 2008 9:26 AM in response to Iceman00000

Iceman,

In iTunes, You can right click (assuming you are on windows...if not, I am sure you can still do this somehow...I just cannot tell you off hand) in the area at the top of the columns and can then select to show the bit rate of songs (as well as a lot of other usefully things). you can then sort by bitrate and you will have a list of songs that you can go on to re-rip.

You can even drag them into a playlist so you can easily see a list of them without having to always repat this step of sorting.

once you have, you can then delete them all by sorting the same way.

and BTW, although I have experienced the odd skipping of some songs (always track 1) I have always been able to replay it using the back button and I have encloded lots of music into mp3 using EAC and a LAME(mp3) plugin.

Good Luck

D

Mar 16, 2008 9:11 PM in response to Delcast

I don't know what to make of this but...I think it's bad encoding in iTunes.

To explain, I recently dusted off my old 4th Gen Clickwheel. Synced both the clickwheel and the classic. The clickwheel I left hooked up to the stereo via dock and played all day long. One song, in the 1:55 mark, squeaked, for lack of a better term, but it continued to play the song. I checked it out and in Itunes, it was fine. In my Classic? 1:55 is where it skipped, then on to the next song.

I think it was bad encoding. Most of my files are AAC, some MP3, and they run the gamut from 128-320.

Mar 17, 2008 9:27 AM in response to fullcream

I bought two 80GB iPod classics as Christmas presents in Dec 2007 and they skip lots and lots of MP3s that work perfectly on my 4th Gen Photo and my brother's 5th Gen 60GB Classic. All of these iPods are synchronised to the same iTunes database but the new iPod classics suck.

After calling Apple support and eventually getting through to Ireland, the guy told me to convert the problem files to AAC. That worked fine but I am p*ssed that the MP3s have no problem on the old iPods and that if I convert to AAC then the files become less portable.

This is a firmware/iTunes issue and Apple should resolve it instead of me having to sit in front of my PC for 6 months to do the job properly.

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Ipod skipping songs after a few seconds

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